Most of the lecture was spent with Charles reading from his (many) slides so I have copied the text into here with some comments in brackets when he actually added some information.
Why is direct teacher instruction necessary?
Gives opportunity to scaffold
Tells students what they are learning, what to do
• Directly extend students’ Zone of Proximal Development
• Cultivate students’ Schema
• Engage Social Constructivism
• Initiate discussion of students’ understanding
• Motivate students to be actively engaged
• Encourage students to take risk
• Make expectations clear
• Create learning opportunity Role of Direct Teacher Instruction in a Constructivist context
Students construct their own knowledge but they need assistance.
• Constructivist direct instruction does not tell answers.
It gives:
• Clues
• A hint
• Triangulation points (Provides points from which a student can come to a conclusion)
• Clarification
• Intellectual challenge How is it used?
Constructivist direct instruction should:
• Illustrate / Show
• Tap into Multiple Intelligences
• Target strengths
• State outcomes
• Explain why they are to do
• Explain how they are to do
• Tell marking criteria Concept of Whole Class Discussion and Whole Class Explanation
Whole Class discussion is:
• Traditionally, a face-to-face, free and open academic exchange of ideas. (non-traditional via electronic mediums)
• A strategy to stimulate students' thinking through:
• Cooperative thinking aloud and exchanging views.
• (Verbal) interaction planned to occur in an orderly process.
• Stimulation of students’ thinking
• Facilitating students’ understanding through speech.
• Challenging students’ attitudes, perceptions and beliefs. Characteristics of whole class discussion:
• Organised and directed:
• Very clearly defined purpose
• Teacher steers discussion towards desired lesson outcome/s
• Teacher manages the students’ participation
• Teacher maintains the focus of the lesson’s academic objective
• Active and student-centred to maximise 5 logical criteria
• Students actively engaged in learning
• Students given opportunity to construct knowledge
• Students have an intention of extending their knowledge
• Students talk, listen, share and respond to other’s thoughts.
• Students collectively put forward more than one point of view
• Collaborative
• Meets students’ moral dispositions
• Subject to intellectual dispositions
• Subject to democratic dispositions
• Not a debate
• Not propaganda
• Not an argument
• Not I am right and you are wrong
• Not telling students answers
• Not a question and answer session
• Not teacher or few students dominated
• Not a goal but a means to help students learn How to prepare for a whole class discussion
• STEP 1: Well formulated purpose
• STEP 2: Research the topic thoroughly
• STEP 3: Prepare students for the discussion
• STEP 4: Prepare the discussion environment
• STEP 5: Prepare a well thought out discussion plan
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Provide a theoretical framework.
• Explain discussion rules and expectations.
• Remind students of the purpose of the discussion.
• Ask well thought out questions requiring high order cognitive processes.
• Have techniques ready to start the discussion, keep it going and conclude.
• Provide additional information as required.
• Ask students to define terms and concepts
• Keep discussion going and increase participation
• Encourage students to be critical of ideas not people.
• Ask students to judge, appraise or evaluate contributions.
• Bring discussion to a conclusion making students feel it has been useful
HOW TO KEEP DISCUSSION GOING AND INCREASE PARTICIPATION
• Asking questions
• Increasing wait time (time between asking question and giving time for students to respond)
• Asking for consensus (are we all happy with that? What do other people think?)
• Making provocative statements (stimulate discussion)
• Help students see links/connections between points.
• Invite students to ask fellow students question/elaborate
• Asking for agreement or disagreement with prior comment Circumstances when each of these is the effective learning and teaching strategy
WHEN IS WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION A SUITABLE/EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGY?
• E.g: After Science/Geography excursion/Experiment
• To help students achieve related outcomes
• To show students that you value their ideas
• To encourage democratic thought among students
• To encourage students explore an open-ended issue
• To help students develop their communication skills. Advantages of whole class discussion
• Encourages whole group synergy
• Can be a memorable and more meaningful exchange of ideas
• Allows for diversity to contribute to the learning process
• Helps students develop their cognition as objective thinkers
• Helps students develop their mental faculties as informed thinkers
• Helps students develop their mental faculties as reflective thinkers LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues with the teacher)
• Teacher dominates the discussion.
• Failure of the teacher to relax control on the class.
• Failure of appropriate class management.
• Failure to involve reluctant students in the discussion
• Failure to prepare students well for the discussion. LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues with the students)
• Students might be reluctant to participate.
• Conflict may arise between two or more students.
• Students might stray from the topic.
• Students might misunderstand teacher's role.
• A few talkative students dominate the discussion.
• Some students might not have sufficient command of the language. LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues generally)
• Can be very time consuming.
• A feeling of damage to self-esteem.
•Failure to complete work as per programme. MEANING AND IMPOR T A N C E O F EXPLAINING
• What is it?
• Facilitating a student’s understanding of an issue.
• Clarification of an issue and giving reasons which enable a student to construct the meaning they make of an issue.
• A set of integrated statements designed to help a student to gain or extend their understanding of a particular point or issue. Why is Explaining Important?
• Close your eyes: Reflect on your Primary or Secondary School days.
• Bring back to your present mind a teacher that you remember the most.
• Think hard about why you remember that particular teacher.
• Share with us Why you singled out that teacher. Best teachers are those that can explain well. DISCUSSION VS EXPLANATION Discussion(event has occurred)
• Ex-post incident:
• After an event
• Examples:
• Class has read a book
• Class has seen a video
• Been on an excursion
• Performed an experiment
• Tried to solve a Maths problem or puzzle Explanation(telling something new, it is yet to happen)
• Ex-ante incident:
• Before an event
• Examples:
• Actually teach something new
• What is taught is critical to children’s understanding success
• Essence to further learning
• Basis for new knowledge
TYPES OF EXPLANATIONS Interpretive
• Explanations of issues of a factual nature.
• Answering “What” kind of questions.
E.g: What is this? Descriptive
• Explanations of processes, procedures and structures.
• Answering “How” kind of questions.
E.g: How does it work? Reason-giving
• Explanations which give reasons, motives and justification
• Answering “Why” kind of questions.
E.g. Why them and not us? Rule for Distinction between Inductive and Deductive Pattern
HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE AN EXPLANATION LESSON?
• Have a clear introduction
• Present a logical development, with examples
• Develop links between different parts
• Get feedback from students.
• Give a closing summary and conclusion What Principles and Skillsmake a Good Explanation?
• Clarity and fluency
• Clear structure and organisation
• Emphasis and interest
• Relevant teaching strategies and examples
• Feedback PLANNING EXPLANATION AS A TEACHING STRATEGY - PART A
1. Identify the point or issue to be explained.
2. Clearly state aspects of the issue that need to be explained.
3. Search for and assemble data that informs the situation.
4. Organise the data in a set of logical statements or reasons.
5. Assemble illustrations, examples and other cognitive aids. PLANNING EXPLANATION AS A TEACHING STRATEGY - PART B
1. Prepare the student
2. Dialogue, discuss or communicate the enabling information.
3. Derive an understanding
4. Check that the explanation has been understood.
5. Summarise the key explanatories
6. Conclude WHAT PRINCIPLES MAKE AN EXPLANATION MORE EFFECTIVE?
1. Emphasise key concepts.
2. Demonstrate concepts with appropriate aids and examples
3. Try to keep the explanation interesting
4. Use linguistic moves
5. Empathise with students difficulties in understanding
6. Accept the difficulty of certain concepts. What constitutes clarity in an explanation?
1. Clear structure of explanation
2. Clear language
3. Clear voice
4. Correctly pitched voice
5. Fluency SOME TEACHING STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - A
• Questioning
• Use of examples and analogies
• Use of practical work
• Use of teaching aids
• Purposive classroom organisation SOME TEACHING STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - B
1. Maximum student involvement
2. Mutual explanation
3. Active listening by teacher and student
4. Extending ideas
5. Humour
6. Arousal of expectations ANOTHER TEACHING STRATEGY TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - C
Star picture
Who
What
Where
When
How
Why
Key Theme
Or
Concept
Explained QUESTION SEQUENCING AS A STRATEGY TO ENHANCE INTELLECTUAL QUALITY OF DISCUSSION/EXPLANATION
Questions should be sequenced to engage students in:
• DEEP KNOWING
• DEEP UNDERSTANDING
• HIGH-ORDER THINKING EXAMPLE OF QUESTION SEQUENCING TO ENHANCE INTELLECTUAL QUALITY OF DISCUSSION/EXPLANATION-D
Blooms Taxonomy is a good way to sequence questioning.
1) Simple recall questions (Remembering). E.g. List, name, identify.
2) Comprehension questions (Understanding). E.g. Explain, interpret.
3) Adoption questions (Applying). E.g. Solve, calculate, use, generalise.
4) Investigating questions (Analysing). E.g. Distinguish, deduce, compare.
5) Synthesising questions (Evaluating). E.g. Critique, justify, defend, Evaluate
6) Construction or designing questions (Creating). E.g. Report, discuss, devise. HOW CAN YOU TELL WHETHER YOUR STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE EXPLANATION?
• Lengthy responses
• Increase in unsolicited responses
• Increase in confidence
• Increase in speculative thinking
• Increase in open-ended questions
• Contribution by slower students CONCLUSION-1: IN A NUTSHELL
• Whole Class Discussion is not simply a conversation.
• It is a well thought out, structured strategy designed to tap into students’ differential multiple intelligence domains so as to excite and enhance their intellectual faculties to reconstruct knowledge through collaborative social interactions.
• These interactions also develop students’ interpersonal skills.
• A discussion must be well planned, and carefully implemented.
• Without this, it disintegrates into uninformed opinions and “pooled ignorance” CONCLUSION - 2
1. Explanation is extremely important because
• It enables students to construct their understanding.
2. It is a catalyst to students’ engagement in active learning.
3. To be effective, it must be:-
• Student centred
• Well planned, well structured, well executed
• With appropriate examples; conducted with clarity and fluency.
4. High order questioning makes an explanation more meaningful.
5. Students say that the best teachers are those who explain well.
Why is direct teacher instruction necessary?
Gives opportunity to scaffold
Tells students what they are learning, what to do
• Directly extend students’ Zone of Proximal Development
• Cultivate students’ Schema
• Engage Social Constructivism
• Initiate discussion of students’ understanding
• Motivate students to be actively engaged
• Encourage students to take risk
• Make expectations clear
• Create learning opportunity
Role of Direct Teacher Instruction in a Constructivist context
Students construct their own knowledge but they need assistance.
• Constructivist direct instruction does not tell answers.
It gives:
• Clues
• A hint
• Triangulation points (Provides points from which a student can come to a conclusion)
• Clarification
• Intellectual challenge
How is it used?
Constructivist direct instruction should:
• Illustrate / Show
• Tap into Multiple Intelligences
• Target strengths
• State outcomes
• Explain why they are to do
• Explain how they are to do
• Tell marking criteria
Concept of Whole Class Discussion and Whole Class Explanation
Whole Class discussion is:
• Traditionally, a face-to-face, free and open academic exchange of ideas. (non-traditional via electronic mediums)
• A strategy to stimulate students' thinking through:
• Cooperative thinking aloud and exchanging views.
• (Verbal) interaction planned to occur in an orderly process.
• Stimulation of students’ thinking
• Facilitating students’ understanding through speech.
• Challenging students’ attitudes, perceptions and beliefs.
Characteristics of whole class discussion:
• Organised and directed:
• Very clearly defined purpose
• Teacher steers discussion towards desired lesson outcome/s
• Teacher manages the students’ participation
• Teacher maintains the focus of the lesson’s academic objective
• Active and student-centred to maximise 5 logical criteria
• Students actively engaged in learning
• Students given opportunity to construct knowledge
• Students have an intention of extending their knowledge
• Students talk, listen, share and respond to other’s thoughts.
• Students collectively put forward more than one point of view
• Collaborative
• Meets students’ moral dispositions
• Subject to intellectual dispositions
• Subject to democratic dispositions
• Not a debate
• Not propaganda
• Not an argument
• Not I am right and you are wrong
• Not telling students answers
• Not a question and answer session
• Not teacher or few students dominated
• Not a goal but a means to help students learn
How to prepare for a whole class discussion
• STEP 1: Well formulated purpose
• STEP 2: Research the topic thoroughly
• STEP 3: Prepare students for the discussion
• STEP 4: Prepare the discussion environment
• STEP 5: Prepare a well thought out discussion plan
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Provide a theoretical framework.
• Explain discussion rules and expectations.
• Remind students of the purpose of the discussion.
• Ask well thought out questions requiring high order cognitive processes.
• Have techniques ready to start the discussion, keep it going and conclude.
• Provide additional information as required.
• Ask students to define terms and concepts
• Keep discussion going and increase participation
• Encourage students to be critical of ideas not people.
• Ask students to judge, appraise or evaluate contributions.
• Bring discussion to a conclusion making students feel it has been useful
HOW TO KEEP DISCUSSION GOING AND INCREASE PARTICIPATION
• Asking questions
• Increasing wait time (time between asking question and giving time for students to respond)
• Asking for consensus (are we all happy with that? What do other people think?)
• Making provocative statements (stimulate discussion)
• Help students see links/connections between points.
• Invite students to ask fellow students question/elaborate
• Asking for agreement or disagreement with prior comment
Circumstances when each of these is the effective learning and teaching strategy
WHEN IS WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION A SUITABLE/EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGY?
• E.g: After Science/Geography excursion/Experiment
• To help students achieve related outcomes
• To show students that you value their ideas
• To encourage democratic thought among students
• To encourage students explore an open-ended issue
• To help students develop their communication skills.
Advantages of whole class discussion
• Encourages whole group synergy
• Can be a memorable and more meaningful exchange of ideas
• Allows for diversity to contribute to the learning process
• Helps students develop their cognition as objective thinkers
• Helps students develop their mental faculties as informed thinkers
• Helps students develop their mental faculties as reflective thinkers
LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues with the teacher)
• Teacher dominates the discussion.
• Failure of the teacher to relax control on the class.
• Failure of appropriate class management.
• Failure to involve reluctant students in the discussion
• Failure to prepare students well for the discussion.
LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues with the students)
• Students might be reluctant to participate.
• Conflict may arise between two or more students.
• Students might stray from the topic.
• Students might misunderstand teacher's role.
• A few talkative students dominate the discussion.
• Some students might not have sufficient command of the language.
LIMITATIONS OF WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION (issues generally)
• Can be very time consuming.
• A feeling of damage to self-esteem.
•Failure to complete work as per programme.
MEANING AND IMPOR T A N C E O F EXPLAINING
• What is it?
• Facilitating a student’s understanding of an issue.
• Clarification of an issue and giving reasons which enable a student to construct the meaning they make of an issue.
• A set of integrated statements designed to help a student to gain or extend their understanding of a particular point or issue.
Why is Explaining Important?
• Close your eyes: Reflect on your Primary or Secondary School days.
• Bring back to your present mind a teacher that you remember the most.
• Think hard about why you remember that particular teacher.
• Share with us Why you singled out that teacher.
Best teachers are those that can explain well.
DISCUSSION VS EXPLANATION
Discussion(event has occurred)
• Ex-post incident:
• After an event
• Examples:
• Class has read a book
• Class has seen a video
• Been on an excursion
• Performed an experiment
• Tried to solve a Maths problem or puzzle
Explanation(telling something new, it is yet to happen)
• Ex-ante incident:
• Before an event
• Examples:
• Actually teach something new
• What is taught is critical to children’s understanding success
• Essence to further learning
• Basis for new knowledge
TYPES OF EXPLANATIONS
Interpretive
• Explanations of issues of a factual nature.
• Answering “What” kind of questions.
E.g: What is this?
Descriptive
• Explanations of processes, procedures and structures.
• Answering “How” kind of questions.
E.g: How does it work?
Reason-giving
• Explanations which give reasons, motives and justification
• Answering “Why” kind of questions.
E.g. Why them and not us?
Rule for Distinction between Inductive and Deductive Pattern
HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE AN EXPLANATION LESSON?
• Have a clear introduction
• Present a logical development, with examples
• Develop links between different parts
• Get feedback from students.
• Give a closing summary and conclusion
What Principles and Skillsmake a Good Explanation?
• Clarity and fluency
• Clear structure and organisation
• Emphasis and interest
• Relevant teaching strategies and examples
• Feedback
PLANNING EXPLANATION AS A TEACHING STRATEGY - PART A
1. Identify the point or issue to be explained.
2. Clearly state aspects of the issue that need to be explained.
3. Search for and assemble data that informs the situation.
4. Organise the data in a set of logical statements or reasons.
5. Assemble illustrations, examples and other cognitive aids.
PLANNING EXPLANATION AS A TEACHING STRATEGY - PART B
1. Prepare the student
2. Dialogue, discuss or communicate the enabling information.
3. Derive an understanding
4. Check that the explanation has been understood.
5. Summarise the key explanatories
6. Conclude
WHAT PRINCIPLES MAKE AN EXPLANATION MORE EFFECTIVE?
1. Emphasise key concepts.
2. Demonstrate concepts with appropriate aids and examples
3. Try to keep the explanation interesting
4. Use linguistic moves
5. Empathise with students difficulties in understanding
6. Accept the difficulty of certain concepts.
What constitutes clarity in an explanation?
1. Clear structure of explanation
2. Clear language
3. Clear voice
4. Correctly pitched voice
5. Fluency
SOME TEACHING STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - A
• Questioning
• Use of examples and analogies
• Use of practical work
• Use of teaching aids
• Purposive classroom organisation
SOME TEACHING STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - B
1. Maximum student involvement
2. Mutual explanation
3. Active listening by teacher and student
4. Extending ideas
5. Humour
6. Arousal of expectations
ANOTHER TEACHING STRATEGY TO FACILITATE EXPLANATION - C
Star picture
Who
What
Where
When
How
Why
Key Theme
Or
Concept
Explained
QUESTION SEQUENCING AS A STRATEGY TO ENHANCE INTELLECTUAL QUALITY OF DISCUSSION/EXPLANATION
Questions should be sequenced to engage students in:
• DEEP KNOWING
• DEEP UNDERSTANDING
• HIGH-ORDER THINKING
EXAMPLE OF QUESTION SEQUENCING TO ENHANCE INTELLECTUAL QUALITY OF DISCUSSION/EXPLANATION-D
Blooms Taxonomy is a good way to sequence questioning.
1) Simple recall questions (Remembering). E.g. List, name, identify.
2) Comprehension questions (Understanding). E.g. Explain, interpret.
3) Adoption questions (Applying). E.g. Solve, calculate, use, generalise.
4) Investigating questions (Analysing). E.g. Distinguish, deduce, compare.
5) Synthesising questions (Evaluating). E.g. Critique, justify, defend, Evaluate
6) Construction or designing questions (Creating). E.g. Report, discuss, devise.
HOW CAN YOU TELL WHETHER YOUR STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE EXPLANATION?
• Lengthy responses
• Increase in unsolicited responses
• Increase in confidence
• Increase in speculative thinking
• Increase in open-ended questions
• Contribution by slower students
CONCLUSION-1: IN A NUTSHELL
• Whole Class Discussion is not simply a conversation.
• It is a well thought out, structured strategy designed to tap into students’ differential multiple intelligence domains so as to excite and enhance their intellectual faculties to reconstruct knowledge through collaborative social interactions.
• These interactions also develop students’ interpersonal skills.
• A discussion must be well planned, and carefully implemented.
• Without this, it disintegrates into uninformed opinions and “pooled ignorance”
CONCLUSION - 2
1. Explanation is extremely important because
• It enables students to construct their understanding.
2. It is a catalyst to students’ engagement in active learning.
3. To be effective, it must be:-
• Student centred
• Well planned, well structured, well executed
• With appropriate examples; conducted with clarity and fluency.
4. High order questioning makes an explanation more meaningful.
5. Students say that the best teachers are those who explain well.